A/N: I'm too impatient to wait longer before posting this update ;^; lemme know what ya think, kay?
There was a crowd hovering just before the doorway, peering out into the hall. Voices clambered over each other, making Tsuna wince as the sound crested at whatever was going on outside the classroom. Reborn had struck him with a mallet that morning for waking up late and the screams and cheers of his classmates just reminded him of how much his head hurt. He just wanted to go back to sleep.
As the sounds grew once again, Tsuna winced and pressed a hand to his forehead.
Almost immediately, a loud shout cut through the overlapping voices, "Tenth! Are you alright!?"
"Yeah, of course! It's just a small headache, that's all." Tsuna reassured quickly, worried that Gokudera would do something ridiculous in an overprotective rage. Tsuna turned to look at Gokudera as he quickly weaved between the desks toward him, catching the way that the bomber's fingers twitched towards his pockets and how his eyes flicked to the screaming of the excited crowd in realization.
Gokudera's eyes narrowed at something behind him and before Tsuna could react, Yamamoto had slung an arm around his shoulder with a laugh. Gokudera was practically foaming at the mouth at the action.
"You're looking a bit tired Tsuna," The baseball player said with a smile, "Have a late night?"
Tsuna sighed and thought back to the nightly assassination attempts Lambo had attempted since moving into his house. Last night was full of snapping awake every time a sleeping Reborn struck Lambo away hard enough to leave a dent in his bedroom wall. He had to shush a crying Lambo every time he got smacked away or else the sound might have woken his mother, or even worse, Reborn. Although, how neither of them woke up to the thud of Lambo hitting the wall remained a mystery to that very moment.
"I guess you could say that. Lambo kept me up pretty late," Tsuna sighed, rubbing the back of his head, "Reborn woke me up early this morning too, so I haven't gotten very good sleep."
"Tenth, that's not good!" Gokudera exclaimed as he shoved Yamamoto's arm off his shoulder with a fierce glower at the other boy, "You need to get eight hours of sleep every day so you'll be at your healthiest!"
The crowd in the hallway let out a loud gasp, the voices of many mingling together to make the sound stronger. It swelled to an unbearable pitch before falling to an unnatural silence.
"Dame Tsuna," Reborn said, appearing out of nowhere to perch on Tsuna's head like some sort of deranged bird. "Go see what's happening."
"Eeeh?" He squeaked, peering at the mob around the door with trepidation.
"Tenth, what if it's dangerous!?"
"Don't worry, Gokudera," Yamamoto chuckled, placing his arm on Tsuna's shoulder once more, "We'll go with him just in case."
"If anything happens, I'll be the one to keep the Tenth safe. You can go and give us time to get away."
"Aww, don't be like that, Gokudera."
The sound of voices crested once more, the cacophony of whispers surging up with astounded gasps and shocked muttering. It made Tsuna's heart race in his chest, an anxiety of the unknown making itself present in his chest and almost making him stay frozen in his spot. But the weight of Reborn on his head was a threat of its own and Tsuna could only force himself to swallow dryly and shakily sigh, "I don't have a choice do I?"
He got a pat on his hair as a reward. "Maybe you're not so Dame, after all."
Yamamoto gave him a grin before tugging him forward, to the exclaimed dismay of Gokudera. "Let's go see what's going on, yeah Tsuna?" The sound of his complaint was drowned out and together, the four of them- including Reborn- made their way toward the source of the chaos.
And when they saw it, even Yamamoto fell silent by his side.
There was a girl being beat up by Hibari just outside his classroom.
"Hieee!?" Tsuna screeched after scrubbing at his eyes to make sure he wasn't just seeing things. But, still, even his denial wasn't enough to erase the same thing that everyone gazing into the hallway was witnessing.
The girl held herself carefully, a single hand hovering over her ribs with a faint grimace twisting her lips. Her eyes were hard emeralds, ones that didn't leave Hibari-san despite the crowd that grew around them both. There was blood on her face, from a lip split open, from a gash in her hairline. Although, there were splotches of already bruising skin on her legs, raw scrapes on both of her knees that showed this fight wasn't going her way. The large bruise on her cheek, on the other hand, didn't look as fresh as her other injuries, which meant she had already had it before jumping into this fight.
Not that Tsuna expected anything else, nobody fought Hibari-san and won.
Something in his chest twinged. Why was the poor girl so beat up? What was she doing trying to fight Hibari-san to begin with?
She leapt towards Hibari-san, fist flying forward fast and hard toward his face. Hibari-san moved out of the way of her blow effortlessly, swinging his tonfa and almost landing a vicious strike on her arm. She barely managed to jerk it back in time.
She panted, trying to catch her breath as another swipe came at her face. She ducked, the tonfa missing her head by inches, raising her elbow and jabbing it into the closest part of him she could reach- which, considering her limbs didn't have nearly as much reach as Hibari-san's, meant she had to throw herself into the motion as well, digging her elbow in his stomach with a solid thud.
A satisfied gleam shone in her eyes for a second, but then a tonfa blurred through the air- colliding with the side of her cheek, snapping her face to the side and knocking her flat to the ground.
The crowd of students gasped and winced sympathetically, some of the girls raising their hands to their cheeks with a grimace. Tsuna could understand, he'd been hit by Hibari-san before and it was something that he had no desire to experience again.
She lay there stunned, head bowed and dripping blood onto the corridor floor. Slowly, she raised her head, clearly dazed by the hit. Her cheek was already bruising, swelling an angry shade of red to match the bluish tint of the bruise on her other cheek. She shook her head a little, as if doing so would clear the ringing the blow must have sent through her ears.
Hibari-san twirled his tonfa in his hands, "You'll need to do better than that, herbivore."
"Did you hear me ask for your opinion?" The girl snapped in accented Japanese, sluggishly pushing herself up on her feet. She swayed in place, taking a heaving, labored breath, before adding a venomous, "Bastard," in what Tsuna could now recognize as Italian.
"What is she doing here?" Gokudera breathed, eyes wide and mouth open in surprise.
"You know her, Gokudera?" Yamamoto asked, tilting his head to the side and not looking away from the brawl. Tsuna was also curious about his friend's answer, though the thoughtful hum from Reborn sent his heart into overdrive. There was no doubt that Reborn knew who that girl was. The question was whether he'd decide to share the information or not.
"Thunderstorm Risa," Gokudera said and there was an edge to his words, an unspoken thing made Tsuna feel like there was a long story behind the connection the two seemed to share. "The prized heir of the Bovino famiglia."
"Hiee!? Another hitman?" He screeched, before the words fully sinking in. "Wait… Bovino?"
"Yes, Dame Tsuna." Reborn said, "Risa Bovino is Lambo's older sister."
"Hiiiiee!?"
"Oh wow, I didn't know that kid had a sister." Yamamoto laughed, "She sure doesn't know how to give up, huh? It's kinda cool isn't it?"
"It's freakier than it is cool," Tsuna muttered, looking at the way the girl, Risa- Lambo's sister- curled and bent out of Hibari-san's attacks, lunging forward whenever there was an opening even though landing her own blow usually resulted in her taking a direct hit from one of the tonfas swinging in her direction. She was taking more damage than she was giving out. Hibari-san didn't look ruffled- uniform pristine and crisp while she looked like a bloody, beaten mess in comparison.
"It'd be better if she stopped fighting, that way she wouldn't get so beat up."
"She's not going to stop," Gokudera said, a scowl on his face and hands shoved deeply into his pockets, "She'll stop when she's unconscious but until then, she won't stop at all."
"I take it, you've had previous encounters with Thunderstorm Risa then?" Reborn questioned.
Gokudera nodded his head, expression hard and eyes tight. "I've worked with her once or twice," was all he said, but by the sudden glint in Reborn's eyes, it wasn't the last time the subject would be broached.
By now, the students in the halls were quiet, staring in abject horror as Hibari-san's tonfas collided with Risa's body with solid thuds and how instead of backing down, the girl muffled the pained cries that managed to escape her, standing on wobbly feet and bracing herself to attack once more. Tsuna was one of the many frozen in shock at her perseverance- though, he felt sick to his stomach at watching Lambo's sister get beaten down again and again.
"She's going to get herself killed," Gokudera grit out, mouth pressed in a firm line but eyes flashing with worry at the thought. "That asshole isn't the kind to stop until she stays down and she's not the kind to stay down."
"I'm sure Hibari-san wouldn't do something like that," Yamamoto reassured, although by the sharp look in his eyes as he watched Risa barely avoid a tonfa, he wasn't entirely convinced.
"Dame Tsuna," Reborn began, and his blood froze in his veins. Whatever Reborn was going to suggest wasn't going to end well for him. "Go help her."
"Hiiiee!? Why would I do that!?" He cried, jumping away from the fight and pressing himself against the closest wall. "Hibari-san looks like he's having fun! He'll kill me if I interrupt!"
"A good mafia boss should never leave a lady in distress," Reborn said, "You're going to help her, otherwise," raising his voice loud enough to carry to the brawling pair, "I'll tell Mamma that you threw Lambo at the wall last night."
Risa twitched and as she narrowly avoided a tonfa swipe, her gaze, brilliant green and furious, turned in the direction of Reborn's voice. She took a single step forward, threatening and outraged, towards them- hands clenched at her sides in shaking fists and radiating a wave of anger so potent that the students around them flinched back upon meeting her burning eyes.
"What!? I've never done something like that!" Tsuna screeched, "And please lower your voice, people are going to get the wrong idea!"
"But Tsuna," Reborn said with an innocent voice, "There's a dent in your wall in the shape of Lambo!"
"You did what to Lambo!?" Risa shouted, all signs of exhaustion washing away until only fury remained. Fury directed right at him.
"I didn't do anything," Tsuna cried and waved his empty hands pleadingly at the glaring girl, "I didn't do anything to Lambo, I swea-"
Thud! Hibari's tonfa slammed into the back of Risa's skull.
It was a blow hard enough to tear awareness away from her, the price of her moment of inattention. Her gaze grew vacant, the bright green dimming to a duller shade as her consciousness slipped away. Her eyes fluttered shut. The step she was taking towards Tsuna halted midway, her legs crumbling underneath her until instead of walking, her body simply pitched forward, careening towards the hallway ground facefirst.
The students lining the halls held their breaths as she fell, none of them moving but hoping that somebody- anybody- would stop the girl from hitting the ground. Tsuna didn't move either, legs frozen in place and Reborn's weight oddly absent from his shoulder. Yamamoto's arm moved from his shoulder and his body shifted, subconsciously preparing himself to leap forward to catch her.
It wasn't until he heard a pained, "Risa," slipping out of Gokudera's mouth, as his friend's body tensed and prepared to jump forward, that Tsuna found it in himself to move. He choked down his fear and lunged forward at the same time his friends did. Despite not being as fast as Yamamoto or as agile as Gokudera, it was still him that reached her first, skidding on his knees across the tile and catching Risa before she could hit the ground.
He heard surprised voices at his actions, and the loud clamor in the hallways rose again within seconds. The voices nearly drowned out the sound of the late bell for their next class.
"Is that Dame Tsuna?" "What does he think he's doing?" "Sawada caught her?"
"Herbivore," a smooth voice said, cutting through the sound of the students speaking in the hallway with ease. Every cell in his body trembled at the thought but Tsuna looked up at Hibari-san regardless.
The prefect cut an imposing figure. He stood tall over Tsuna, grey eyes sharp and piercing as they flicked from him to Risa's unconscious figure on his lap. He slid his tonfa back into their sheaths at his sides, and tilted his head slightly. "Take the stubborn herbivore to the infirmary."
"Eh!? You want me to do that!?" He exclaimed eloquently, eyes wide and heart pounding in terror inside his chest. Hibari-san paused in dusting his immaculate shirt, cocking his head to meet Tsuna's eyes once more.
"Do I have to repeat myself?"
Tsuna shook his head violently, nearly biting his tongue at the action. "No, no, no! You don't have to." He laughed nervously, "I'll take her there right now!"
Hibari-san didn't deign him with any more attention, switching his gaze instead to the crowds of students surrounding him. The smile that crossed his face was dangerous, a sign that Tsuna should get going, so he nudged Gokudera from where he stared down at Risa's bruised face with an unreadable expression and beckoned Yamamoto over. The threat of Hibari-san's fury was the only reason that Gokudera and Yamamoto didn't argue when Tsuna offered to carry her to their destination. (Although, he offered more because of Reborn's whispered threat into his ear, than for any altruism he may have felt.)
Then, they set off to the infirmary in a hurry- barely escaping from the crowded halls as Hibari-san started 'biting' the students to death for not only crowding in the hallways around him, but for being tardy to their next class.
This isn't what he hoped his day would turn out like, Tsuna moped as moved towards the infirmary, sweat beading on his face and the unconscious girl on his back weighing more than she appeared at first glance. The whole mafia thing was getting out of hand, he thought, heaving a wheezy sigh.
It was all Reborn's fault.
"Lambo, your sister loves you," she sang, stretching out the words as she tickled her little brother, "She loves you very much." The memory was fuzzy around the edges, the sound of Lambo's clear laughter and that of her own voice more echoey than filled with substance. Like it wasn't something that could ever be truly replicated by her mind or memories even.
"I'll keep you safe for as long as I can," she murmured, brushing her thumb against her brother's flushed cheek and meeting his bright eyes with her own, "Just like I promised Mama I would."
"Sorella, would Mama love me too?"
And before she could answer, declare her 'of course, Lambo' the dream shifted, spinning on its axis until it was just her in the darkness, frantically looking for the form of her younger brother around her.
"Lambo?" She called, desperation laced through her voice,"Lambo, where are you?"
"Risa?" Came a voice from the darkness, muffled and scared, she jerked in that direction, struggling through the miasma of blackness clinging to her body. Her hand reached out, fingertips stretched as far as they could go but they touched nothing. The darkness swirled like water around her hand, spilling like mist through her fingers. "Risa!" The voice called once more, this time sounding more like a sob than anything else.
"Lambo!" She cried into the inkyness and struggled against the invisible binds holding her in place.
She struggled and fought until-
the dream shattered
-her eyes snapped open and she flew upright, headbutting the man hovering over her with a painful clack.
She yelped in surprise and pain, plopping back to the bed, startled. Her gaze darted from side to side, hand raised to her throbbing forehead, wincing at the pain rushing through her entire body. The room was white and smelled of antiseptic. Either an infirmary or the hospital, she thought and cautiously sat back up, dropping her hands from her head in case she needed to fight her way out of this.
The man in front of her cradled his face in both hands, groaning in pain and voicing his complaints loudly. Risa scanned him quickly, taking in the scruffy facial hair, the shaggy brown hair, the neat white doctor's coat. His face was familiar but she couldn't quite place it. It was something that she would ponder after she made sure she wasn't being held captive.
The last place she remembered being was at the school she had entered in search for directions, so chances were that she was in the school infirmary. Which was better than the hospital since it meant less legal questions, but that meant she was still at the same school as that bloodthirsty boy from earlier.
Her eyes flicked away, picking up the presence of two boys seated on the far side of the room, on a cluster of flimsy plastic chairs just across from the cot she had woken on. Judging from the same uniforms that they wore, they were students at this school. How the hell they survived their school day without running into the violent asshole that attacked her was something that she wondered but couldn't spend time dwelling on.
Not with more important things to focus on.
The two boys had looked up from the cards in their hands, gazes darting over to her at the doctor's yelp of pain. They wore two different expressions on their faces at the sight of her awake and aware. One of them was much more pleasant than the other, while the other, reminded her more of a terrified animal than a human being. She watched them carefully as they stood up from their seats.
"You're finally awake!" One of the boys said, the taller of the two- the one with his body held lax. He ran his hand through his spiky black hair and smiled at her, a disarming grin that covered most of his face.
His grey eyes were bright and friendly, though there was something cautious in them that she would have overlooked if not for the angle of his body. It was too casual. Almost as if the way he held himself between her and the boy beside him was nothing more than a coincidence- wary of her but not letting her see just how much. Not that he was good at the deception he was unconsciously attempting, only making it more obvious who the easiest target between the two boys was.
Risa cast her gaze to the other one.
He didn't look like anything special. Far too plain, if anything, pale with fear even though she hadn't done anything to him besides glare at him earlier. This was the boy that had distracted her from her earlier fight, spouting words about Lambo that had captured the entirety of her attention- until she was struck down as a result.
The way the first boy was willing to protect him with his body showed that there was something about him that was important enough to keep safe- either that or his friend was the foolishly loyal kind, the kind willing to defend first and ask questions first. His eyes were wide as they looked at her, body tense and hunched defensively onto itself as if she was going to leap off the bed to attack him.
It raised more questions than answers.
Normal people didn't expect to be targeted by complete strangers. Normal people didn't look wary, resigned in the same way prey knew it would one day be hunted by those stronger than themselves.
Was it the way he gave off an aura that just screamed 'target', or was it just how he looked- with fluffy hair, wide-eyes, his slouched back, that left her restless; as if someone attacking him was only a matter of time instead of the rare possibility it should be for civilians.
Being surrounded by unknowns put her on edge. Reminded her of every hostile situation she had been taught to avoid long before she began taking missions to start with. At least none of them had tried to attack her yet. After that brutal beat down from that violent teenager earlier, she wasn't in any state to fight again- even though she wouldn't hesitate to defend herself if it came down to it.
"Glad you're energetic enough to throw that lovely head of yours around," the doctor said, smile growing wide until there was almost something unsettling about the expression. Risa jerked back in surprise at the shift and glowered at the doctor. "I might have to do a full-body physical to make sure there was no permanent damage." His hands groped the air in front of him.
Risa flinched.
"Touch me and I'll break your nose," She promised, scooting away from him and trying to keep the panic budding in her chest off her face. "Stay away from me, creep."
The black-haired boy laughed loudly, while the spiky brown-haired one winced at her blunt comment. It seemed that this sort of behavior from the doctor happened often enough that calling him a 'creep' didn't cause a larger reaction from the duo.
The doctor wilted at her words, shaking his head as he proclaimed his innocent reasoning for needing to 'examine' her. Risa's gaze darted across the room, searching for an escape route to use if the man came too close to her. There was an absence in her clothing, a lack of the familiar weight, that told her she had been searched and most of her weapons found.
Most. Just not all.
The thought of being unconscious in front of the perverted doctor made her stomach churn with nausea, and Risa subtly shifted her legs, hoping god that she wouldn't feel an ache between her thighs that hadn't been there before. There was nothing, except the aches from her fight earlier.
The relief dragged a sigh out her, and a tension she hadn't noticed melted out of her shoulders.
"I took the liberty to store your special belongings in a safe place, but other than that, we've just been waiting for you to wake," the doctor said and Risa's gaze snapped back to his face.
His chin was propped up on his palm, elbow creasing the white sheets at the foot of her bed- but while his eyes were half-lidded, almost lazily, his gaze was knowing. "We're not going to hurt you unless you prove to be an enemy, understand? For now, I'll just hold on to your weapons, but I'll be sure to give them back when we're sure you're not a threat."
"Hieee!?" The short, scared boy cried out, "Are you sure that's a good idea, Shamal-san? All those weapons… What if she's here to seriously hurt someone? I don't want to face someone that gets into fights with Hibari-san! Wouldn't it be safer to just send her away?"
Risa scowled, "If I wanted to hurt any of you I would have already done it, not waited around until after a psycho attacked me, and a pervert disarmed me in my sleep." Her eyes narrowed, gaze cold and unwavering from the boy who had spoken. "I'm not here to get involved in whatever you did to piss the mafia off. I'm here for one thing and one thing only, and that's-"
'-Lambo,' she didn't get to say, because above them, the air vent cover rattled and swung open like a trapdoor. And from the suddenly open air vent fell a small figure, clothed in a pristine three-piece suit and gracefully landing atop of the scared boy's head. The words died in her throat.
-"They look like children," Uncle had told her once, "But the moment you see them in person, you'll know just what they are, The Strongest in the World, the-"
"Arcobaleno," she whispered, voice shaking and palms suddenly clammy.
He was smaller than she imagined he would be considering the weight his presence carried- like having a gun with a single round in the chamber forced down her throat, finger loose on the trigger but liable to change on a whim. But with the yellow ribbon looped around the fedora on his head and the bright green chameleon resting on the brim of his hat, there was no mistaking who the newcomer may be.
The Arcobaleno Reborn. The World's Greatest Hitman.
"Risa Bovino," he said in a clear childish voice, fedora tilted downward, face cast in shadow, though, even through the darkness she still felt his eyes on her. It was like he was stripping her bare, cutting down to the core of who she was with a single glance. "What is the Bovino's prodigious heir doing in Namimori?"
Her gaze skittered away from the Arcobaleno's dark eyes and onto a spot of water damage on the wallpaper. Her heart shot into overdrive. She was terrified. None of the stories about him had done him any justice. None of those whispered rumors about the man had done anything to prepare her for a real face-to-face meeting. She swallowed dryly and curled her shaking fingers into the bedsheets of the infirmary cot, feeling the weight of those black eyes on her.
"I'm not here to interfere with whatever you're doing, Arcobaleno," she said, voice shakier and raspier than she would have liked. "I'm here for Lambo. That's all."
"Lambo?" The boy serving as the hitman's perch repeated blankly, "You're here to take him home?"
Risa nodded, twisting the sheets around her fingers. "He's just a kid, he shouldn't have been sent on a mission like this to begin with. I'm here to take him with me."
"How honorable coming all this way for your brother," Reborn said, lips curled up in a wry smile. His chubby fingers tilted his fedora away from his face, revealing jet black eyes that seemed to eat the light that reached them, "Unfortunately, you've wasted your time by coming here. As irritating as he may be, he won't be going with you."
The world froze. Her heart stopped beating in her chest.
Her plans hinged on taking Lambo and running as far as she could, where not even the mafia could find them and Lambo could have the childhood he deserved- the one she hadn't been able to have. Lambo was supposed to live a better life than she had, he was supposed to be free of the burden of their family name, of the bloodstained Mafia that they had been born into. She was supposed to free them both.
"He's my brother- a member of my famiglia. I can take him back home as is my right as the heir of the Bovino, even an Arcobaleno has no place interfering in family business," she said, coldly, rage overtaking the terror and stiffening her spine, bringing her chin up to meet those black-hole eyes boldly.
He didn't look the slightest bit cowed. "Under normal circumstances that would be correct but…" He cocked his head to the side, unblinking, a small furrow between his brows. He clicked his tongue in annoyance, "I take it Lord Bovino didn't make you aware of what's happened, then."
"What do you mean? What are you talking about!? Told me what?" She asked, eyes narrowing and any facade of decorum slipping from her face at his words. Something in her chest roared, stirred awake and screamed- he's mine, I have to protect him, I won't let you take him away from me. It was all she could do to not snarl at the World's Greatest Hitman like a cornered animal, fear racing through her veins, despair looming ominously over her head like a damocles sword.
(People like her never had a choice in their fates. )
She knew she didn't want to hear his explanation.
She knew she didn't want to hear what her Uncle had kept from her, of what deal he had struck with the devil in an infant's body behind her back.
(She didn't want to know the truth. )
She knew it would destroy everything she'd planned for Lambo and herself, but nothing she could do would stop the truth from coming- because life hadn't been kind to her since her mother died and there was no reason it would suddenly change its mind now; not when it would be so easy to destroy the hope she had.
Reborn's next words drove this point right into the marrow of her bones like needles of ice.
It was agonizing.
"By Right of Conquest and the Law of Victors upheld by Mafia Law, he is no longer the Bovino's to claim," he said, looking at her with something akin to pity, "Lambo Bovino belongs to the Vongola now. And that means he isn't going anywhere."